Oil crisis: the political economy of digital data. Conclusion of the special issue

Abstract

It is a truism to say that we live in a digital era. Advances in digital technologies in recent decades have changed personal, political, and social practices. Digital tools–and with it, new capabilities for the generation, storage, analysis, and exploitation of data–have also had profound effects on the political economy, including the financialisation of our economy, movements of data, money, and companies across national borders. At the same time, economic, political and social factors shape what and how digital data are generated, how they are stored and used, and for whose benefits. This concluding chapter to the Special Issue on the Political Economy of Digital Data gives an overview of the contributions` main findings and suggestions.